summer prayer

Under the warmth of the summer sun
the world awakes and blossoms into every imaginable color.
You created a garden for us to enjoy
and within it planted the most magical of flower and trees.
You needed no horticultural training to plan your color scheme,
no gardening expert to recommend variety or design.
Your garden is perfect its colors harmonious its scale immense
spoilt only by the clumsiness of those who tend it.

Creator God who breathed this world into being
who is discernible within the harmony of nature,
the perfection of a butterfly's wing,
the grandeur of a mountain range,
and the soaring eagle and humming bird,
thank you for this world which you have created.
Thank you for summer sun which reminds us
that your creative breath is still alive and active.
Thank you for the warmth of your love
sustaining this world: your garden.
- John Birch, Summer prayer

A summer prayer

Father, Creator of all, thank You for summer!
Thank you for the warmth of the sun and the increased daylight.
Thank You for the beauty I see all around me
and for the opportunity to be outside and enjoy Your creation.
Thank You for the increased time I have to be with my friends and family,
and for the more casual pace of the summer season.
Draw me closer to You this summer.
Teach me how I can pray no matter where I am or what I am doing.
Warm my soul with the awareness of Your presence
and light my path with Your Word and Counsel.
As I enjoy Your creation,
create in me a pure heart and a hunger and a thirst for You.
- Summer prayer from ‘Ignatian spirituality’

(Photo by me.)